


Unconventional Destiny

by Feathersmeanfreedom



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Destiny, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fae & Fairies, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 19:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16001876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feathersmeanfreedom/pseuds/Feathersmeanfreedom
Summary: The prophesy that a faerie and mortal would unite their worlds was thought to be fake, but they couldn’t have anticipated how it would end.





	Unconventional Destiny

When Arthur found him, Merlin was sitting on the wall, looking silently into the dark city of Camelot. 

“I thought I’d find you here.” Arthur sauntered over to where Merlin sat, legs hanging over the wall. 

Merlin didn’t look at him. He didn’t even acknowledge that he’d heard him. The moonlight and coming dawn did more than the torches to light up parts of his face, leaving others in shadow. His long, black hair was tucked behind his pointed ears, marking him as a faerie. Arthur stopped walking when he was close enough to touch him.

He dropped the facade. He didn’t need it around Merlin. “Are you alright?”

“No, I don’t think I am,” Merlin said softly. Merlin didn’t need his either.

Even though he was internally panicking, Arthur found himself saying, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Merlin turned his head to look at him. There was something lost and hopeless in his eyes that Arthur didn’t know how to fix. He wanted to punch whoever had put it there, but that, of course, would be his father.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“Can I stay with you? Until we figure it out?”

Merlin’s nod was barely there, but it was enough. Arthur swung his legs over the wall. Arthur understood why Merlin had come up here. Camelot was truly breathtaking in the predawn. 

“Both of them want me to betray the other,” Merlin said slowly, in anguish. The Fae Queen had summoned Merlin the other day to order him to spy on Uther. If that hadn’t been bad enough, Uther had done the same. The two of them were far too alike. “I have to betray my people or yours.”

And that’s what it really came down to. A month ago, Merlin wouldn’t have given a second thought about spying on Uther for the inevitable war that was to come. Only the debt that comes when a faerie takes too many lives would have slowed him down. Even if it was on the Queen’s orders, the debt would still have to be paid.

“I know.”

Hell, a month ago, Arthur wouldn’t have given it a second thought before doing whatever it took to make sure Camelot won. It was only a Faerie begrudgingly healing him and his knights, and a weary alliance that changed everything. 

“The dragon said we were meant to unite both kingdoms—Albion.” Merlin said. “How can we do that if I have to betray our people?”

Our people. The thought was powerful. The legend of a mortal and faerie was thought to be made up. A dragon’s prophesy changed that. 

Arthur took Merlin’s hand in his. “We’ll find a way.”

Merlin still looked lost, still looked like the world was on his shoulders, so Arthur tugged him closer. Only when Merlin’s side was flush against his did he relax, letting Arthur take some of the burden. 

•••

“What is your choice, Emrys?” The Faerie Queen asked. Her voice rung through the hall of silent faeries, alike and different in their magics and forms.

Merlin’s heart beat hard, but his voice was clear, his words unable to be mistaken: he was invoking the ancient ritual. “I challenge the Queen Morgana for the throne. 

There was a moment of heavy silence. Then, ripples of murmurs broke out. 

The Fae Queen held up her hand and instantly, the room was silent. She stood gracefully, long, dark hair fell over her shoulder. She took a single step forward, and everyone waited with bated breath. According to the ritual, she could not refuse the challenge, but nobody had challenged her in over a 500 years. 

“I accept.”

Instantly, the crowds of faeries cleared the center of the room. In seconds there was a large, empty circle in the otherwise crowded hall. The Queen’s second stepped forward and made a shimmering dome over Queen Morgana and Merlin. No spell could pass through from either side, and no one could interfere. 

Morgana’s eyes were already glowing when the dome completed. The challenge began and after, Merlin couldn’t have said what happened. It began with flashy magics that, while looked impressive, were not. But it was for show. That was only half of it. 

In their minds, they shot blades of magic at each other, images, anything to throw the other’s concentration off. 

The real battle was fought with both. 

Merlin only remembered that Morgana’s magic was very similar to his own. But the differences were night and day. 

Morgana’s was gold at night; gone was the shimmering elegance. Instead, there was something much colder and much more brutal in its place. This was the force that struck fear into the greatest of mortals and immortals alike. 

Merlin remembered thinking there was something off about her magic. He remembered shining pure daylight at her magic. He remembered how she crumpled and tried to get away from it. He remembered how the light didn’t care and purged her magic of everything dark. Most of all, he remembered how Morgana stood back up, as she always did. But this time Morgana stood up with magic like gold in the day, and her court gasped. The dark magic was cleansed.

They stopped shooting magical weapons at each other. Their mental battle was still going on, but it was more like two curious puppies circling each other than wolves. 

Within minutes, Morgana conceded to Merlin in a move that no one was quite sure if it was legal. Never one to care for the rules, she conceded. 

Merlin kissed her hand as she swore fealty to him.

•••

Gaius had seen a lot of marriage ceremonies in his life. He decided that Merlin and Arthur’s was the strangest one yet. 

For one thing, Morgana officiated it as a High Priestess of the Old Religion alongside Geoffrey as the master of ceremonies. For another, both Arthur and Merlin were becoming king consorts to the other. While marriages between royalty weren’t uncommon, marriages between the Fae King and a mortal king was unprecedented. 

Gaius probably could have told them that Faeries and humans in the same room while bored was probably not the best idea, if the hushed giggles behind him was any indication. And that they shouldn’t let Arthur and Merlin write their own vows, which they seemed to think was an opportunity to insult the other. 

Gaius also should have mentioned that the Fae were, first and foremost, tricksters, and had switched Geoffrey’s book of vows into the words to a drinking song, which he obliviously read. 

Or maybe that was Gwaine. Yes, Gaius definitely should have said that Gwaine was under no circumstances to be allowed to sit near the faeries for the ceremony. 

But alas, the ceremony was already happening, and Gaius thought this was all too hilarious to interrupt. 

Nevertheless, both faeries and humans alike cheered when the ceremony was complete.

**Author's Note:**

> A little thing I’ve had sitting around that I thought I’d just put out in the world. Feedback is always welcome, and thanks for reading!


End file.
